On Tuesday 04 September 2007 11:12:56 Peter S Galbraith wrote:
> Tatsuya Kinoshita <tats@vega.ocn.ne.jp> wrote:
> > I think that even if distribution of *.elc file should be licensed
> > under GPLv3, *.el file under non-GPLv3 can be distributed, because
> > locally installation and byte-compilation are not limited by GPLv3.
>
> I disagree. It's not simply about byte-compilation. The simplest
> packages usually `require' (or `load') some elisp file from Emacs.
> That's bascally the same as linking. However Emacs and it's many
> libraries are not licensed under the LGPL, but under the GPL.
An .el source code file doing a 'require' or 'load' does not make the source
code a derived work. It's like an "#include <...>" statement in C source
code. Compiling it might make a derived work, but it's not a derived work
just because it mentions the name of a file it's asking a compiler to
include when executed.
Anyway, you could possibly argue either way if the .elc file is make a
derived work by "linking" to emacs. But the .el file by itself is
unquestionably not a derived work and could be under any license at all.
--
Wesley J. Landaker <wjl@icecavern.net> <xmpp:wjl@icecavern.net>
OpenPGP FP: 4135 2A3B 4726 ACC5 9094 0097 F0A9 8A4C 4CD6 E3D2

Attachment:
signature.ascDescription: This is a digitally signed message part.